Nobody told me why I was being replaced in 2016, reveals Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri was appointed as Team India head coach in 2017 by the Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. The former Indian cricketer served as India’s team director during 2016, but was not offered the coaching role as the BCCI preferred Anil Kumble over Shastri. However, Kumble was replaced by Shastri a year later, after the completion of the 2017 Champions Trophy in England, where India lost to Pakistan in the final.

Since his appointment in 2017 as head coach, Team India achieved the No.1 spot in Test rankings, and clinched several historic wins overseas. India won 25 of the 43 Tests and 51 of the 76 ODIs during Shastri's tenure as head coach, with two successive Test series wins in Australia. They qualified for the World Test Championship 2021 final, reached the semis in 2019 ODI World Cup, and led 2-1 in Tests in England earlier this year, which were the major highlights of his stint. Shastri’s tenure as Team India head coach ended with the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2021. 

Meanwhile, Shastri has stated that he was never told why he was replaced from the role in 2016, and the manner in which the proceedings were handled had hurt him.

"There was this bolt from the blue. In less than two years after I was asked to set aside my broadcast career, leave everything else and join the team, I suddenly found myself out for no reason. I had sown the seeds and the fruits were beginning to show and out of nowhere I came to know I was being replaced. Nobody told me why,” Shastri told the Times of India in an interview.

"Yes, more than anything, it hurt because of the manner in which it was done. For all that I had contributed, just on one word from the BCCI, there were better ways to let me know 'Oh look we don't want you, we don't like you. We want somebody else' - if that was the case. Anyway, I went back to do what I do best - which is television.

“Around nine months passed, and I didn't even have a clue that there was anything wrong inside the team. I mean, what could've been wrong? I was told there was a real problem and I said - how can there be a problem in nine months? The team that I had left was in such a good space. How the hell in nine months could something go that drastically wrong?," Shastri added.

Shastri went through several ups and downs during his tenure as head coach, and he was widely criticized by fans and experts whenever India failed to perform. However, Shastri backed his players, and won several bilateral series, but an ICC trophy kept eluding India, as the team fell short on multiple occasions.

He revealed that attempts were made to keep away him from taking up Team India’s coaching role, and that there was also a reluctance in appointing Bharat Arun as the bowling coach.

"During my second stint, I came after a huge controversy. And it was literally egg on the faces of those who wanted me away. They opted for someone and nine months later, they came back to the very guy they threw out. And I'm not pointing any fingers at people (BCCI) in general. Specific people. I must say an attempt was made to ensure I don't get the job. But such is life," Shastri said.

“They didn't want to give me Bharat Arun either as the bowling coach. And looking at how things pan out - the very guy they didn't want as the bowling coach went on to become the finest this country has ever had.”